CANCELLED: Climate Speaker Series: AI, Data Centers, & Communities

121 Atkinson Hall

The AI boom has opened a widening gap between the power the grid can deliver and the power gigawatt-scale compute demands — and closing that gap without breaking the systems, water tables, and communities it depends on is the defining infrastructure challenge of the moment. Jakob Carnemark, Founder and CEO of Endeavour — a full-stack data center and infrastructure innovation company redefining the built environment for the age of AI, together with Beth Rattner, Endeavour’s Head of Impact and Sustainability and former Executive Director of The Biomimicry Institute — join us to talk through how Endeavour is approaching it.

Endeavour's Edged platform delivers vertically integrated, grid-interactive data centers built around waterless cooling and modular, just-in-time power systems designed to smooth the extreme load swings of AI workloads and sidestep years-long grid interconnection queues. Carnemark has spent three decades building mission-critical infrastructure — from Skanska to founding Aligned Data Centers to launching Endeavour — and his team is currently deploying this technology across a gigawatt-scale global pipeline. Expect a candid conversation about the tradeoffs: power, water, speed to deployment, and the growing expectation that data centers earn their place in a community rather than simply arrive in one.

Co-hosted by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, the Cornell Energy Transitions Initiative (CETI), and Tobias Hanrath (Croll Professor of Sustainable Energy Systems). This is a rare chance to hear directly from the leadership team building this infrastructure, not just reading about it.

Speaker Bios:

Jakob Carnemark

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Endeavour

Jakob Carnemark is a dynamic leader with over two decades of experience scaling sustainable technologies in water and energy infrastructure. A seasoned entrepreneur, he founded Skanska Mission Critical in 2001 and later launched Aligned Energy, which grew into a multi-billion-dollar company. In 2019, Jakob established Endeavour to tackle the world's most significant challenges through a holistic approach to infrastructure innovation across water, energy, waste, and materials.

Beth Rattner

Head of Impact & Sustainability, Endeavour

Beth Rattner is a renowned sustainability advocate with over 15 years of experience leading the Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle Institutes. She has worked with brands including Microsoft, Hilton, and Walmart at Blu Skye, and brings private sector expertise from HP. As the lead for Endeavour Impact, Beth measures and maximizes the organization's social and environmental impact, leveraging her network to strengthen partnerships with universities, governments, and innovators to promote sustainable solutions.

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Space is limited – please register ahead of time.